TUNIS (Reuters) – A Tunisian historical past enthusiast is making dye from sea snail shells impressed by a faculty undertaking a long time in the past on ancient Carthage and the purple colouring that introduced fabulous wealth to the classical world.
Mouhamad Ghassen Nouira works from a hut in his backyard to course of murex snails utilizing strategies first developed by the Phoenicians to provide a dye often called Tyrian purple that sells on-line for about $2,500 a gram.
So costly was the color even in ancient instances that the Romans restricted its use to the elite, whose purple fringed robes turned the mark of the Mediterranean’s strongest dynasty.
For the ancient Phoenicians, from modern-day Lebanon, the commerce in Tyrian purple helped construct a mercantile empire that established new colonies throughout the Mediterranean, together with at Carthage, close to fashionable Tunis, below the legendary Queen Dido.
“This interest began once I was a boy in historical past class finding out the Canaanites, the Phoenicians and the Carthaginians and the way they have been well-known for extracting purple from murex and it was dearer than gold,” Nouira stated.
Years later, he observed a lifeless murex on the seaside and recalling his historical past courses determined to experiment with methods of constructing the dye. “From that time I began my journey,” he stated.
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Phoenician settlers are believed to have based Carthage roughly 3,000 years in the past and it will definitely turned one of many nice powers of antiquity with a mighty navy primarily based at a close to impregnable port complicated.
Under its biggest normal Hannibal, who marched battle elephants throughout Spain and over the Alps, Carthage almost conquered Italy. But it was Rome that lastly prevailed.
The metropolis was later rebuilt by the Romans and is now a suburb of Tunis, with the pillars of ancient buildings protruding alongside residential streets and the once-mighty port residence to little fishing boats, with murex shells dotting the seashores close by.
As the centuries handed, the key of turning murex into Tyrian dye was progressively misplaced till just a few fanatics began attempting to recreate the system.
Nouira spent 14 years figuring out how one can produce the dye from nets of murex he buys from a neighborhood fisherman, extracting the glands, crushing the shells, fermenting and cooking them and finally producing tiny quantities of purple powder.
It takes 54 kilogrammes (119 lb) of murex shells to provide a single gram of Tyrian purple, making it onerous to be economically viable. Huge mounds of damaged shells from the dye trade of centuries previous are nonetheless discovered close to nice Phoenician centres.
At first individuals criticised his new interest, he stated, complaining concerning the time and power he dedicated to it. But as he began to get outcomes, individuals noticed he was onto one thing.
“The criticism become encouragement and that motivated me to maintain going,” he stated.
(Reporting by Jihed Abidellaoui, writing by Angus McDowall; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
